Behind the scenes: How Jon Huntsman smacked Mitt — in Mandarin!! (VIDEO from the Spin Room)

What was going through the minds of the GOP candidates Saturday night when they engaged in a circular firing squad — and largely gave GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney the kid glove treatment at the big televised ABC debate?

As California Democratic campaign consultant Bob Mulholland laughingly told us afterwards (he got a ticket to sit in the debate hall at St. Anselm College): “What was wrong with these guys? If any one of them had punched him out, they would have made the headline of the night.”

Yeah, well, move along, there’s nothing to see here.

The guy who showed the most moxie, and the most debate chops when it came to that front, was former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman.

When Romney jabbed him for working with the Obama Administration (and apparently for trying to talk up relations with China), Huntsman bounded back with a zinger — in fluent Mandarin.